Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Due to the processes that the Senate has committed to, this may be my last chance to make a contribution in this debate before we put the bills, at 12 o’clock. I indicate that, while it would be possible to believe that the opposition were motivated by sound public policy, their track record indicates otherwise. Their $10 billion water package was apparently done on the back of an envelope. It had no cost-benefit analysis. It is a little hard to take seriously people who were involved in that process suddenly being the champions of a cost-benefit analysis by the Productivity Commission. I do not remember Senator Birmingham jumping up and down and demanding a cost-benefit analysis on that white elephant the Adelaide to Darwin railway. So it is a little hard to take the opposition seriously on those things. It is a little hard to take your cries on this issue seriously. The amendment is poorly drafted in many ways. I do not know how you define the ‘NBN proposal’. What is the ‘NBN project’? Is it different from the NBN proposal? This is a cheap political stunt at the end of a long discussion, and I do not believe the chamber will fall for it.

More importantly, as I said, this will probably be my last chance to talk in this debate, so I want to say a few things in summing up. This legislation will deliver historic reforms to the telecommunications sector. It will deliver cheaper prices and more choice and it will drive innovative services for Australians. Australia has, to its shame, the fifth most expensive broadband charges in the OECD. This bill will help to bring prices down by allowing greater competition in the sector.

The competition and consumer safeguards bill is a fundamental and historic microeconomic reform and is in Australia’s long-term national interest. This legislation paves the way for a more efficient rollout of the National Broadband Network. It delivers key reforms that allow for the structural separation of Telstra, which means the agreement between Telstra and the NBN Co. can be finalised. This bill does create a framework to deliver this important reform, but the bill also does much more than that. During the NBN rollout, the existing telecommunications regulatory regime will remain important for delivering better and more affordable services in the interests of Australian consumers and businesses. The reforms are designed to reshape regulation in the telecommunications sector in the interests of consumers. Also, small businesses and the economy will benefit enormously from the reforms we are voting on today. Specifically, the proposed reforms establish a framework for Telstra to progress its decision to structurally separate, including providing it with greater clarity around the undertaking process which will allow Telstra to seek approval from its shareholders on a firm proposal to migrate its fixed line customers to the National Broadband Network. They will streamline the competition regime to provide more certain and quicker outcomes for telecommunications companies, and they will strengthen the consumer safeguards to ensure service standards are maintained at a high level. Importantly, they are supported by the overwhelming majority of the industry. The delivery of the government’s reforms, in parallel with the rollout of the NBN across Australia, will finally deliver the affordable broadband services Australians need now and, importantly, into the future.

I want to thank a number of people who have participated in this debate—particularly Senator Ludlam and the Greens, Senator Fielding and Senator Xenophon—for their support in delivering this crucial bill, this crucial economic reform. It is disappointing. One of the proudest mantras of the opposition during the period of the Hawke-Keating government, and then when they became the Howard government, was that they were able to say, ‘You could never have made those economic reforms without us,’ because you supported them. The opposition put Australia’s national interest ahead of short-term political gains. But those opposite today are turning their backs on economic reforms that they know this country needs and will benefit from. Short-term politics has been put ahead of national economic reform, and it is a disappointing day. You had a proud record through the period of the Hawke-Keating government of supporting economic reforms that were in the national interest, and you know this bill is in the national interest. You know this bill is about improved outcomes for every single Australian and you have torched the record and the mantle of economic reformers by how you are going to vote on this bill—and you should be ashamed of yourselves. You cannot claim the mantle of economic reformers anymore, because of your opposition to this bill.

I particularly want to thank the Greens, Senator Fielding and Senator Xenophon for accepting and agreeing that this country needed to shake up telecommunications in this area. It is a bill that is in the interests of Australian consumers, and every day of delay in the 12 months we have had to put up with has been another day of higher prices, less choice and less innovation for consumers. The task of undertaking such difficult but necessary reform in an industry that is fundamental to Australia’s long-term national interests is one which this government embraces wholeheartedly and encourages the parliament to embrace.

But there have been many more people that have been involved behind the scenes that deserve recognition. I want to thank my department: Peter Harris, the head; Pip Spence; Daryl Quinlivan; and all of those who have been working on this and those who are here with me in the chamber today. They have spent many, many hours, night and day, to deliver this. I want to thank the ACCC, who have contributed enormously: Graeme Samuel, Ed Willett, Michael Cosgrave and their team. I want to thank the staff of Senator Ludlam, Senator Xenophon and Senator Fielding, who I know have worked many, many hours to make this bill a reality. I want to thank the organisations who have supported this cause for many, many years: ATUG, ACCAN and the Communications Alliance. I want to thank the staff at NBN and the NBN board, Harrison Young’s and Mike Quigley’s team, who have been fantastic in providing information and support and now have an enormous challenge.